Another Chance
by terreisa
Summary: Killian has said his final goodbye to Emma but someone, a particularly powerful someone, needs him to make one last decision. Part spec, part headcanon, with a dash of angst and a lot of heart. A post Firebird AU one-shot
**I wrote this because an idea got in my head after the episode Firebird and wouldn't let go. To see the post that started it all go visit my tumblr.**

 **Kitsis and Horowitz own the characters but I like to play.**

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Killian stood staring up at the empty elevator shaft for who knows how long. His tears had long since dried on his face, unwilling was he to move even that much. Emma was gone, as she should rightfully be, but the knowledge of that didn't lessen the ache in his chest. They were True Love and she had taken his heart with her. Despite his promise Killian knew how hard he'd have to fight himself to keep her from becoming his unfinished business.

"Well that was incredibly selfless of you, noble even. Hell, I might even go so far as to say that was something a real hero would do."

Closing his eyes Killian tipped his head back further in annoyance. The booming voice sounded arrogant and prideful, much like Hades, and instinctively he knew it was another such god. One most likely sent to replace the bastard now that he had absconded. He just hoped this one had less of a stomach for torture.

"Forgive me if I'm not in the mood for banter, mate," Killian said opening his eyes but still not moving, "but unless you have some unknown grievance with me I'd like to be on my way. I have a promise to keep."

Killian turned finally and took in the man standing before him. He was tall, taller than David but just as blonde His blue eyes were bright in the gloom of the tunnel, almost crackling with energy. Much like Hades the man dressed to impress in a suit much in a style that he'd seen in the window of the tailor back in Storybrooke, clean lines with no hint of excess adornment. Infuriatingly he was smiling at him with an amused look of commiseration which truly marked him as one of Hades' ilk.

"Ah, yes, to move on. Maybe you'll join Liam and sail the open seas for all eternity or finally settle in that house you chose for a future that's no longer in the cards with the added bonus of reuniting with the lovely Emma once she's made her way back in sixty years or so."

"Perhaps," Killian ground out, furious that this god would use Emma's name so flippantly after what he'd just suffered. "I'll discover what awaits me once I step across that bridge."

"You could but you won't. I have plans for you yet, Jones," the man said his smile growing wider.

"I'll not be another pawn in someone else's game!" Killian shouted, his words reverberating off the tunnel walls. "I've made my peace and earned my rest. You cannot deny me what is rightfully mine!"

"Even if it means you'll get another chance at that future?" The man stepped closer and held out his hand. "I believe you came down here for this."

The man opened his hand and Killian was stunned to see a perfectly ripened ambrosia sitting in his palm. He half reached for it before catching himself, closing his hand into a fist to fight the temptation of snatching it up. With a deep breath he shook his head, resolutely denying what could be his to take.

"Even if it is truly the ambrosia, the price of becoming your slave is one I'll not pay," he said resolutely, standing tall.

The man's eyes widened as his lips pursed. He closed his hand and then opened it again quickly, showing that the fruit had never even been there.

"Bravo!" He clapped loudly, as though Killian had been the one to perform a trick. "Most people would have fallen for that, jumped at the chance to live again without sparing a single thought to what it would cost them. Then again you're not most people and neither am I."

"I've gathered as much," Killian responded drily. "Nothing you can say will tempt me so I suggest you let me go."

"Hmm, stubborn I see," the man tapped his chin. "So quick to dismiss me? You don't even know my name."

"I don't need to in order to be aware I'm better off not knowing."

"Pity, because once you do you'll be very interested in helping me after all. My little brother has found a loophole in his punishment and now that he's free every realm is threatened. This cannot stand and I believe you and you alone are motivated enough to stop him."

As the man had spoken his irises seemed to light up from within with bolts of energy. It reminded Killian of late summer thunderstorms where lightning lit up the night sky and no harbor was safe. With that came awareness of who the man was.

"Zeus," Killian breathed almost accusingly.

"Yes, of course, took you long enough," Zeus said with a smirk. "Now you know who I am and what I can do for you. I've been watching you since my son arrived in Olympus and informed me of what Hades has twisted the Underworld into becoming. I admit my own failings in keeping an eye on him allowed it to reach this point."

"Too little too late to rectify it I'd say," Killian scoffed, rocking back on his heels.

"Not yet, which is why I'm here and why I'm talking to you. I may be a god but even my powers have limitations, especially in the realm that Storybrooke inhabits. By sending you back, alive and whole, Hades can be stopped and Storybrooke can be saved."

Zeus looked at Killian expectantly as though waiting for him to drop to his knees and shower him with thanks. Instead he looked at the god warily and with the suspicion he should have used to examine Hades' talk of redemption.

"And what? I'm supposed to believe that you'd just snap your fingers to bring me back to life and not expect something monumental in return? You forget of my dealings with the Crocodile, I know the markings of a deal when I'm presented with one," Killian sneered.

"True, true, but you've only been offered deals from villains if I'm not mistaken. Pan, Rumplestiltskin, Cora, Zelena and even darling Emma offered you a deal as the Dark One. It's no surprise you're a bit hesitant to accept," Zeus smiled that infuriatingly pitying smile again. "Here's how my deal will work. There are pages that the young Author wrote before returning to Storybrooke. They carry the details of the unfinished business the poor souls that have been trapped down here have yet to discover. Find the pages, help those souls move on, and I'll give you a choice: you can move on with them to whatever peaceful eternity awaits or you can return to life, help your friends defeat Hades, save Storybrooke, and get that happy ending you deserve with Emma. That is the deal I want to make with you."

Killian felt as though all the air had been sucked out of the tunnel. He could see no duplicity in Zeus' words even through his mirthful gaze. It was a second chance at life, much like the one Liam had given him so many centuries before but without the shroud of darkness upon it. There was nothing for it, he had nothing to lose and only pure possibilities to gain.

He squared his shoulders and looked Zeus straight in the eye, "I'll do it."

"Excellent!"

Zeus clapped him on the shoulder and immediately they were surrounded by a golden cloud. When it dissipated they were standing in the library foyer above. The doors had been blasted off their hinges leaving it open to the dilapidated town center.

"There isn't much time. I can already feel my brother's influence at work," Zeus stepped back. "I'll know when you've completed your task. Good luck!"

In another swirl of golden smoke Zeus disappeared. Killian set his mouth in a grim line and strode out of the library. There was a witch at Granny's he needed to speak with.

It took several hours for him to accomplish his mission. Between the Blind Witch's haphazard spell work and Cruella's devious ways he had been given the runaround through the town. Finally he had located the pages and the persons they were written about. If his only reward had been the awe and gratitude given to him by the lost souls who would no longer be lost it would have been enough.

He was left standing in front of his grand headstone. It was where he had found himself after he handed over the last page to a young couple who seemed to need not only the page but his insistence that their son Geppetto had not had a miserable life. They had left smiling and Killian had felt a sort of pride in Henry's calling, that as the Author he could weave his own kind of magic. If he indeed made it back to Storybrooke he'd tell the lad as much.

"If I said you hadn't worried me a bit there I'd be lying," Zeus quipped as he appeared next to the headstone.

"People have made the mistake of underestimating me before," Killian said.

"Which is what I'm counting on," Zeus was smiling and Killian took it as a good sign. "My brother has a tendency of pissing off the wrong people and expecting them to cower before him like everyone else. I think his mistake with you was doing it more than once."

"Aye," he growled. "He will pay for what he has done."

"So, you've made your decision then?" Zeus said crossing his arms and smiling expectantly.

"I have."

Killian had thought long and hard about what Zeus was offering him. When he wasn't tussling with the wannabe rulers of the Underworld or bringing others peace he had weighed his options. In the end there was only one thing he knew for certain: he was being tossed a lifeline back to Emma and he'd be a fool to turn away from it.

"Now, this should be relatively painless but I wouldn't know, being immortal and all. See you on the other side."

Zeus tapped him on his chest and immediately he felt an overwhelming sensation in his heart. It felt as though it was being torn apart yet filled with warmth, crushed but filled with pure healing light, all simultaneously. He hunched over clutching his chest as the feeling intensified. As it reached his peak he screwed his eyes shut, mouth open in a silent scream and thought only of Emma as he lost consciousness.

With a gasp Killian regained his senses in what felt like the span of a heartbeat. He was laying on his back in what felt like a bed but he was unable to tell in the all consuming darkness he found himself in. Tentatively feeling his surroundings he felt a satin like fabric covering what amounted to a solid wood box around him. A flash of a memory of Baelfire's funeral came to him and he understood. Zeus had indeed brought him back to life but his body had already been laid to rest in a coffin.

Fighting off the panic that threatened to consume him he called out. At first it was nothing more than a quiet wheeze, his vocal chords unused and dusty. Clearing his throat he tried again and then again until his yells caused his ears to ring and this throat to burn. All the while he scratched and wrenched at the wood above him with hook and hand, unaware if he was to be greeted with fresh air or fresh dirt once he broke through. None of it mattered when his heart was finally beating steadily again.

Suddenly he felt a change in the air pressure around him. It didn't feel as oppressive and the claustrophobia threatening to choke him dissipated. With a final push the lid of the coffin opened and he sat up blinking against the bright grey expanse of sky above him. He heard a tortured gasp and turned toward the sound still unable to make out anything but vague shadows at the sudden intrusion of light.

"Killian?" Emma's voice wavered from above him.

"Aye, love," he said softly as she came into focus.

She was staring down at him in disbelief, dressed head to toe in black under a large black umbrella with his flask dangling from her fingertips.

"How?" She asked brokenly as though he was just an illusion.

"I promise I'll explain," he said vehemently as he struggled to stand. As soon as he succeeded he stepped on the still closed bottom half of the coffin and hauled himself from the grave. "First there's something I must do."

With that he pulled her to him knowing he was gripping her wrist too tight but she didn't seem to care as she dropped the umbrella and flask, practically falling into his embrace. He peppered her face with kisses as she began to sob and her tears mixed with his own. When he finally reached her lips they were both half crying and half laughing but Killian thought no reunion between them could be more perfect.

"How?" Emma asked again once they broke apart.

His forehead was resting on hers, their exhalations mixing as they breathed one another in. She no longer sounded desolate, instead her voice was laced with wonder.

"A god took pity on me and offered me the chance to return to you," he sighed into her, nuzzling his nose against hers. "All I had to do in return was offer my services in defeating Hades."

"Killian," Emma gasped and pulled away from him. "No deal is worth whatever they're making you do."

"I'm not making him do anything," Zeus' voice drifted from behind them. Killian turned and saw him leaning against the headstone. "I'm Zeus, by the way. I gave him the choice of moving on or getting a second chance in this life. You can see what he picked."

"Killian?"

He turned to look back at her. She had that look of wonder on her face, the one she'd had when he'd said she was his happy ending. The one he was sure was on his face when she chose him and the door that could only be unlocked by True Love opened for them. It was a look he was content on putting on her face for the rest of his life.

"It looks as though our true love is blessed by the gods, love. Would have been bad form to turn up my nose at it."

Emma gave him a blinding smile and pulled him down to her once more. He distantly heard Zeus clearing his throat pointedly behind him but paid it no mind. There were far more important things to be done.


End file.
